National Heart, Lung, and Blood InstituteNational Institutes of Health

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GOALS

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) will continue to apply National Institutes of Health (NIH) cost management guidelines when making fiscal year 2013 grant awards (NOT-OD-13-064). Funds will be restored as appropriate for FY 2013 awards previously made at the 90% provisional amount. Although funding decisions are usually made in priority score or percentile order, final funding decisions are based on considerations of program relevance, overlap with existing programs, availability of funds, and NHLBI Advisory Council recommendations. The NHLBI FY2013 funding and operating guidelines apply to all awards made in FY2013. Any competing application reviewed in FY13 and considered for funding in FY14 will be funded according to the policies and guidelines for FY14.

Payline Information

The current paylines for NHLBI competing awards are displayed in the table below. Paylines are updated throughout the fiscal year as appropriate. Applicants are advised to use information in the Funding and Operating Guidelines in conjunction with information available in the applicant?s organizational eCommons account to determine the probability of funding. Final funding decisions will be based on programmatic priorities and availability of funds.

Future Year Commitments on FY 2013 New and Competing Renewal Awards:

As in FY 2012 (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-12-036.html), inflationary increases for future year commitments will not be allowed for all competing and non-competing research grant awards issued in FY 2013, however adjustments for special needs (such as equipment and added personnel) will continue to be accommodated whenever possible.

Salary Cap

The FY2012 salary cap for individuals under an NIH grant or cooperative agreement remains in effect and is established by statute at $179,700. Information regarding the applicable law and how it will be implemented at NIH can be found at the following link NOT-OD-13-064.

Duration of Grants

Competing awards are adjusted to achieve a four-year average duration for research project grants and to meet cost management goals. Applications from ESIs, program project grants, and clinical trial grants are generally awarded for the full length of their Council-recommended project period. Competing applications with a Council-recommended duration of four years will not be reduced further to three years. Please note that amended applications (A1s) will be reduced by one year, regardless of the priority score or percentile accorded the application.

Beginning in FY 2014, it is anticipated that NHLBI policy will be to fund investigator-initiated R01 competing applications, regardless of percentile or priority score, for a period of four years. The only exceptions to this policy are:

awards made to Early Stage Investigators

awards for studies with a patient accrual and follow-up timeline that cannot be accomplished within four years;

awards for AIDS-related research

Early Stage Investigators

Fostering the success of Early Stage Investigators (ESIs) who are establishing careers in biomedical research is a high priority of the NHLBI and NIH. The NHLBI emphasis on ESIs is reflected in the special consideration given in determining both funding priority and period of support. The NHLBI routinely considers funding ESI applications that score outside of the normal funding range.

The NHLBI will continue a commitment to help ESIs in accordance with NIH guidelines articulated in the NIH Guide Notice Revised New and Early Stage Investigator Policies. All awards to ESI applicants that are included under that policy will be funded for all years recommended by the NHLBAC.Please note that the NHLBI considers ESI eligibility for special funding consideration of a resubmission application to have been determined at the time of the initial unamended (A0) submission. If an applicant would have qualified for ESI special funding consideration at the time of the A0 application submission, that eligibility would be maintained through the A1 revision.

For 2013, the first competing renewal (Type 2) application from PIs who were initially funded as ESIs will also receive special funding consideration. Additional information on ESIs can be found in the NHLBI document Commitment to Early Stage Investigators.

As of FY 2010, new (Type 1) applications from New Investigators (NIs) who do not qualify as ESIs will no longer be considered for special funding. However, the first renewal (Type 2) application from PIs who were initially funded as NIs before FY 2010 is eligible for special funding consideration under the NI funding policy that was in place.

Pending the availability of funds, the NHLBI may use the R56 grant mechanism to provide limited, interim research support to Type 1 resubmission Early Stage Investigator (ESI) applications and Type 2 resubmission applications requesting less than $500K in Direct Costs/year. Eligible applicants cannot have significant funding support from within or outside NIH beyond the current fiscal year. Further, applications with administrative issues that preclude timely award are ineligible for this program.

NHLBI participation in the R56 mechanism has been published in the NIH Guide (NOT-HL-13-188, see http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HL-13-188.html). Please note that investigators cannot apply for R56 awards. Applications for conversion to an R56 will be selected by NHLBI staff, based on Institute goals and priorities, from peer-reviewed R01 grant applications as follows:

Type 1 A1 ESI applications requesting less than $500,000 in direct costs in each year that received a score within 5 percentile points above the ESI R01 payline

Type 2 A1 applications requesting less than $500,000 in direct costs in each year that received a score within 10 percentile points above the standard R01 payline

The ultimate goal of the award is to provide interim, one-year support for investigators to collect preliminary data in support of a new NIH R01 application.

The NHLBI will use the following guidelines for funding RPGs:

The NHLBI will award competing applications at 95.2% of the NHLBAC recommended level including any other specific programmatic and administrative adjustments. Applications that do not exceed $250,000 direct costs in any given year of support in the recommended competitive segment are generally awarded under the modular concept. Applications requesting direct costs that exceed $250,000 in any year of support in the recommended competitive segment will be awarded with categorical budgets. Please note that if a proposed award would result in a reduction greater than 25 percent from the requested amount in the application, NHLBI program staff will contact the PI and the applicant institution before an award is issued to obtain either a statement that the approved aims and objectives can be accomplished within the proposed level of support, or a revised statement of aims and revised budget for the proposed level of support.

The NHLBI policy for competing renewal and MERIT extension grants that will be awarded in FY 2013 differs depending upon the nature of the award in the preceding competitive segment and the likely form of the award for a competitive renewal.

Program Project Grants (Type 1 and Type 2)

Type 1: The direct cost award will not exceed $1,442,280 ($1,515,000 x 95.2%). The NHLBI will award competing applications at either 95.2% of the NHLBAC recommended level or the $1,515,000 ceiling, whichever is lower, including any other specific programmatic and administrative adjustments. Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs associated with first tier subcontracts are not included in the direct cost ceiling. Annual increases for recurring costs in non-competing years are not allowed.

Type 2: Direct costs will be awarded at 95.2% below the amount shown on the Notice of Award for the last noncompetitive segment. As with new awards, annual increases for recurring costs are not allowed.

Categorical to Categorical

For competing renewal and MERIT extension grants that were categorical awards in the preceding competitive segment and will be in excess of $250,000 direct costs in any given year of the recommended competitive segment, the Institute will award at 95.2% of either the NHLBAC recommended direct cost or the maximum of three percent (10 percent for MERIT extensions) above the level of the last non-competing award of the preceding competitive segment. The maximum may be exceeded to accommodate non-recurring equipment costs. Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs for first tier consortia are not considered in the direct cost base when calculating the maximum that can be requested.

Modular to Modular

For competing renewal and MERIT extension grants that were modular awards in the preceding competitive segment and will be no more than $250,000 direct costs in any given year of the recommended competitive segment, the Institute will award at 95.2% of the NHLBAC recommended direct cost amount. Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs for first tier consortia are not considered in the direct cost base when calculating the maximum that can be requested.

Modular to Categorical

If the previous award is 10 modules, a requested increase will cause the competing renewal to be awarded as categorical. In all such cases, the Institute will award at 95.2% of either the NHLBAC recommended direct cost or the maximum of 3 percent (10 percent for MERIT extensions) above the level of the last non-competing award of the preceding competitive segment, whichever is lower. The maximum may only be exceeded to accommodate specific programmatic and administrative adjustments that may be warranted or for non-recurring equipment costs. Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs for first tier consortia are not considered in the direct cost base when calculating the maximum that can be requested.

Continuation Awards (Type 5 Noncompeting Renewal)

The NHLBI will award Type 5 grants in accordance with the NIH Fiscal Policy for FY2013 (NOT-OD-13-064). Fiscal year 2013 commitments will awarded at 95.2% and will not include cost of living/inflationary adjustments; however adjustments for special needs (such as equipment and added personnel) will continue to be accommodated whenever possible. This policy http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-12-036.html applies to all grants (research and non-research) when applicable.